Bruins bounce back, beat Jets
Boston (9-2-2) still hasn’t lost consecutive games this season as itbounced back from a third period meltdown in a 4-2 loss at Buffalo on Friday to pick up a 3-2 victory at Winnipeg’s (5-8-1) MTS Centre in the second game in their five-game road trip on Sunday night. The Bruins rallied twice from one-goal deficits and Brad Marchand had the game-winner early in the third period, on the power play, his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
Tuukka Rask (7-1-2; 22 saves) wasn’t particularly busy but Boston was fortunate to not go into overtime. A shot by Winnipeg before the game’s final buzzer trickled along Rask’s goal line but somehow didn’t cross it before time expired. After a scoreless first period, Alex Burmistrov took advantage of some shoddy defending by Boston. Rask made the initial save but he knocked in the rebound. Tyler Seguin tied it with a beautiful tip-in later in the frame.
The teams traded goals in a frantic last minute of the second period as Evander Kane scored after Nathan Horton couldn’t cover him properly. The B’s made up for it 25 seconds later as Paille had a similarly artistic tip to get the puck past Pavelec with two seconds left in the period. Marchand appeared to earn a penalty shot early in the third period but Winnipeg was only charged with a tripping penalty. No matter though as Marchand potted his goal shortly after that.
Let the record show that the Bruins were also victorious in Jay Pandolfo’s debut with his hometown team. Milan Lucic missed the contest, he was back in Boston dealing with a personal matter, which meant that Rich Peverley shifted to the first line, Paille was on the third line and Pandolfo skated on the fourth line. Boston is off until Thursday when it travels to Tampa Bay (7-6-1) to take on the Lightning. The teams haven’t met so far this season – they would have played last Saturday but the blizzard wiped out their scheduled meeting at TD Garden.
Follow Metro Boston Bruins beat writer Rich Slate on Twitter: @RichSlate
